A brilliant maths student thought to have died aft
A brilliant maths student thought to have died after eating a ‘dodgy hot dog’ was in fact killed by her diabetes, an inquest heard.
Lesley Millett, 21, was found dead by a flatmate after eating the fast food from a stand in Oxford Street, raising suspicions she was poisoned.
But Westminster Coroner’s Court heard tests showed her blood sugar level ten times the nomal level and Miss Millett had been killed by a hyperglycaemic attack.
Miss Millett, who had achieved ten ‘A’ grade GCSEs and five top grades at ‘A’ level, was in her third year of a maths course at London’s renowned Imperial College when the tragedy struck.
On February 11 this year, she began being sick in the night and complained to flatmate Anthony O’Brien she was suffering from food poisoning.
After buying her a bottle of Lucozade, Mr O’Brien went away for the weekend with Territorial Army.
When he returned the flat in Old Brompton Road, Chelsea, on the following Sunday he found Millett’s lifeless body in her room.
Miss Millett, from Bache, Chester, had suffered from diabetes since the age of three.
She was described in court by dad John, of Gower Park, Chester, as a’ exceptional student.
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He said: ‘Lesley had a normal life.
It was full and active in every way and unless you knew her personally you wouldn’t have known she had diabetes.
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Pathologist Dr Iain Hill said in a statement read to the court: ‘She has died because somehow her blood has got out of control and not enough insulin has been taken to correct her blood glucose.
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Asked by coroner Dr Paul Knapman if vomiting caused by a ‘bad hotdog’ could cause hyperglycaemia, Dr Nick Hunt said there were no signs of food poisoning.
Returning a verdict of misadventure Dr Knapman said Miss Millett was ‘very intelligent’ and scrupulous about controlling her condition.
‘We don’t know whether there may be some truth in the matter that she might have had something usual or whether in fact, even at that stage, it was high blood sugar,’ he said.
‘The only evidence we do have is she had died from hyperglycaemia as a result of too much sugar in her bloodstream.
‘I think more likely that the control mechanism has gone wrong in this case.
‘Who would have thought that Mr O’Brien would have been faced with the scene when he came back on Sunday to find his flatmate dead.
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The inquest heard that Miss Millett also worked part time at a cinema box office in Leicester Square.
Her former school in Chester has named an annual prize for academic excellence in her honour.
Miss Millett’s parents John and Sheila were too upset to comment as they left the court.
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